How Many People in US Jails and Prisons are Non-Violent Offenders?

More than half of the prison inmates in the United States are non-violent offenders. In 2006, for example, there were 1,331,100 people imprisoned, only 667,900 of those were convicted of violent crimes. Robbery was the highest violent crime conviction, with 179,500 incarcerated offenders, followed by murder, with 144,500 inmates.

More Prison Population Facts:

The United States has more documented prison inmates than any other country in the world. More than nine million people are incarcerated worldwide — at the end of 2008, over 2.3 million of those nine million were incarcerated in the U.S., and more than 90,000 additional inmates were in juvenile facilities.

In total, at the end of 2008, more than 7.3 million people were either on probation, on parole, in jail or in prison in the United States.

In the U.S., men are incarcerated 15 times more often than women. Men accounted for 93% of the prison population at then end of 2008.

The total incarceration rates account for jail and prison populations. Jails are for short-term incarcerations, usually less than one year, and for holding a prisoner before he or she goes before a judge. Prisons are for long-term incarcerations and for those requiring higher levels of security.